Lord Cassian

Serafina Pov.

Lord Cassain.

I stood in that corridor.

He was…

He was there all along and we didn't even notice.

I felt anxious, knowing he held everything.

Every word I said at that door. Every word Daxton said back.

“ I didn't know she was with you, I searched through the courtyard for you, Your Majesty". He bowed, and a wicked smile escaped his lips.

“Oh”. Daxton answered, taking some steps backward to the window.

He's a damn liar.

I had said so much that I should have held back, I had disrespected Daxton more than once in the space of twenty minutes thinking it was just us.

My wolf pressed against my ribs like she was trying to run away from the mess I had gotten us into.

“Be still this once”. I ordered.

She settled, curling herself into a ball.

I took one last glance at Daxton and walked away, exiting the door before he could say anything else.

…………..

The palace had a morning routine, as old as the routine I memorized like the taste of steak.

How could I forget? The way servants moved in clusters through the wide corridors with their heads down. The way the ranked wolves walked through the same spaces, as if the servants weren’t there. The way every room had a hierarchy in it that the servant dared not enter or be fed to the woods.

I had grown up on the edges of this routine. My pack is attached to a small pack with no rank worthy of speaking in the gathering of wolves, useful for the soldiers during war, and forgotten by the alphas during festive seasons.

Five years in Calwen had made me forget how belittled my pack felt in the midst of the others and how we were being discriminated against and set aside like we carried a plague.

Indeed it matters, everything always mattered in the long run.

A beta servant backed into me at the corner near the kitchen corridor. Water splashed from the bucket she was carrying and poured on my face down to my chest, she flinched back almost shaking.

“Forgive me…”

“It’s fine.” I steadied the bucket before it went over completely. “Walk slower near the corners, be careful so you don't trip.”

She stared at me for so long. A young teenager around the age of twelve to fifteen, her gaze fell slowly on my swollen red wrist, she took a step backward, her gaze still on me.

“You’re the bound omega,” she said. Then her face went red. “Forgive me, I'm sorry…it wasn't intended…”

“I know what I am.” I let go of the bucket. "Be careful so you don't trip over the next person.”

I left her standing there.

*The bound omega.* Already a title. This was worse than I imagined. I had been inside these walls less than a full day and the palace had already given me a new title and I was meant to carry the tag for more than a year.

The east wing opened along the outside of the main hall. Wide stone arches. Cold morning light pierces across the floor. I stopped at one of the arches and pressed my back to the column beside it and let myself breathe.

Cassian is a damn bastard!.

He had found Eli. Pretended to rescue him, used him as bait, handing him gold with a clause inside the contract that a young unmated wolf with a sick mother and no resources would never have found it until it was too late to say no. He had triggered the omega surrender law precisely because it would bring me back inside these walls vulnerably knowing I was the only omega in Ironveil who had ever been Daxton Cole’s.

Really?.

To what end?

The question banged in my head and the answers were not forthcoming.

Why go to this length if he didn't have a personal grudge against my family or me?

Why the hell did he use my brother as bait?.

“If it isn't for the apple of the king’s eyes “.

I turned.

Cassian was leaning against the opposite column of the arch with his arms folded and his ankles crossed, the way a man leans when he feels comfortable. He had gotten so close to me and I didn't even realize it. He moved too fast for a wolf, way too fast.

“Lord Cassian.” My voice came out cold.

I hate him so much and the hatred doubled knowing the role he played in my arrest.

“No need for titles.” He pulled his back from the wall walking toward me at a slow pace.

“You’re brave I must commend”.

“You didn't come all the way from your quarters to tell me that”.

“And you've got a sharp tongue”. He leaned closer than I could feel his breath on my skin. His eyes fixed on me like he was counting the air on my skin. “Thread carefully”. He warned, his lips spread into a silly smile.

My jaw tightened but it wasn't obvious.

He looked away, his hands together in his back, his gaze fixed on the field like he was monitoring the servant from where he stood.

“The King doesn’t summon bound servants to his private study before sunrise.” Cassian smiled. “You don't want to get in more trouble”

“You've stayed too long in a place you're not supposed to be given a seat talk more of a title”.

“True.” He tilted his head. “But most times fate has a way of making one the most slight after in Tye seven pack” He paused then continued.” I heard you lack manners but I thought otherwise,I'm impressed you pulled it off effortlessly”.

I tried to speak back but for some reason I swallowed hard.

He was up to no good and I could feel it, the fact that they still held Eli captive after holding me hostage still amuses me.

“Why are you still keeping him?”. I asked.

“Eli is a sweet boy.” Cassian’s voice was warm and measured. “I have some power over your witty mouth so I'd use it for as long as I please”. I looked at him coldly cursing him under my breath. I wish I could run my claws over his face but I’m no match for his strength, he’d break me into two.

The sun shines in my face, so I move backward a bit.

“What do you want with me Mr all-powerful?” I asked, his presence beginning to irritate me.

He leaned closer.

“A little Favour”. He licked his lips.